She was the 40th child of a powerful Indian chieftain. She was the first American to attempt to understand the European culture. She saved Jamestown, Virginia-celebrating its 400th birthday this year-first from starvation, then destruction. What was this Disneyfied young woman really like? What can we learn today about Pocahontas' world? And what effect did her short life have on us?

In honor of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Willard Sterne Randall, Champlain's Distinguished Scholar in History, strips away the cartoon mask and reconstructs what life was like for a Native American woman, her family and new neighbors at the moment the English colonization of America began.

"The Real Pocahontas" is the first of two years of lectures in the Leadership American Style lecture series to be dedicated to the exploration and settlement of early America, culminating in Champlain College's hosting of an international symposium to mark the 400th anniversary on Samuel de Champlain's arrival on the lake he named after himself.

Visit www.champlainquadricentennial.com for more information on this two-year celebration.

The lecture is offered on October 30 at 7:30 p.m. in Champlain College's Alumni Auditorium, 375 Maple Street, Burlington. Free.

Posted 10/18/07